Legal News Archive: December 2017

The month of December wraps up with three major holidays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve. Each of these dates brings with it significant risk factors that should be at the forefront of a person’s mind as they navigate the season. Safety should be paramount at all times.

A festive Christmas tree is a holiday tradition in many households. There are a variety of ways to get a tree, from visiting a tree lot to going out into the forest and cutting down your own. Bringing it home, setting it up, and decorating it can be a family bonding experience year after year.

When Type II Diabetes is discussed, a certain degree of victim-blaming often takes place. People are quick to point out that diet and exercise are associated with development of this dangerous disease, with the implied assumption that individuals with Diabetes could prevent the chemical reactions occurring in their body just by following certain protocols.

Most Americans are familiar with the term “black ice,” though many do not differentiate between black ice and other forms of ice on roadways. During winter months, it is common in many areas for thick layers of ice to develop, but these are not black ice because they are more clearly visible to the human eye. Black ice is a thin layer of clear ice, which allows the color of the road to come through, making it much more difficult to spot.

A chiropractor and his wife confessed to engineering a scam to defraud insurance companies by overstating the extent of injuries suffered by people under their care. As part of the scam, the St. Louis couple bribed police officers for access to accident reports and other documents not meant for public release, then used the information to gain access to people in accident and funnel them to pre-selected attorneys.

When people hear of a burn injury in an industrial setting, most assume that a fire caused the injury. But in reality, steam is the culprit more often than not. Fires are rare in these types of settings, but steam has a variety of industrial and commercial uses that put workers into regular contact with the dangerous substance.

Driver’s Education classes are available in every state, and are even required in some jurisdictions for a teenager to get a Driver’s License. These classes teach young people the rules of the road, the meaning of traffic signs, and when to yield. Students are taught when and how to signal, the importance of moderating speed and how to manage traffic. But one of the most important lessons a young driver can learn is not always taught.

Depakote (or Divalproex) has been long established to cause birth defects. Even before the FDA issued official guidance in 2009, the medical literature clearly indicated a linkage between Depakote and a variety of problems, including spinal bifida and cleft palate. Lawsuits and settlements in the intervening years have even more clearly illustrated the dangers posed by this drug.

Deep Vein Thrombosis, or DVT, is a condition where a blood clot develops in a “deep vein.” Deep veins are further from the skin or surface of the body, in contrast to superficial veins, which are the veins that can easily be seen during an examination. Because they are buried in the body, determining whether or not a clot has developed in a deep vein can be more difficult.

Elderly individuals and people with disabilities often have to rely on either the kindness of strangers, state programs, or public transportation to get to places like the grocery store or the doctor’s office. Unable to obtain a Driver’s License, limited options exist to provide people who can’t drive with the opportunities that so many of us take for granted.

A British newspaper investigation is drawing attention to a worldwide problem with working conditions in factories owned and run by Amazon, and unsafe practices the company utilizes regarding their delivery drivers. Amazon is one of the largest corporations in the United States. Despite the massive profits, the company stands accused of overworking employees.

A near miss at the New York Port Authority is drawing attention to the vulnerability of the New York City subway system to terrorist attacks. In the December 11th, 2017 incident, a 27-year-old man attempted to use a homemade pipe bomb, but faulty construction limited the scope of the devastation.

A North Carolina teenager is dead after an accident between a pickup truck and a logging truck on November 28th, 2017. The high school sophomore was being driven to school by his father when the incident occurred. The pickup truck struck the back of the larger vehicle, dislodging a log, which went through the windshield of the trailing vehicle.

Hernia surgeries are fairly routine as far as surgeries go. Hernias occur when organs or tissue protrude through holes in muscle tissue. Hernias can be excruciatingly painful, and even after they are repaired there can be lasting instability or weakness in the affected portion of the body. Some patients are put on activity and lifting restrictions for the rest of their lives in order to limit the possibility of a recurrence of the hernia.

The holidays are an exciting time. People are buying gifts for the people they love, for friends, and for coworkers. And more and more people are doing their shopping online, using Amazon and other retailers to save themselves the hassle of going to the store themselves.

It started with the New York Times. Over the course of a week, the New York Times ran a series of investigative reports detailing how lead paint remains a problem in many areas of New York City, and how the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) falsely certified that lead paint inspections had been performed in hundreds of apartments that had never been tested.

Supplements have been all over the news for the last year, mostly regarding whether or not the substance indicated on the packaging is even in the product you are buying. The Food and Drug Administration gives manufacturers broad leeway on regulation, and will only step in when consumer fraud is all but proven even without their investigation. All too often, what you think you are buying is not what you are getting.

Thanksgiving marked the start of the holiday season, a time when families and friends come together in joy and harmony. Delicious meals are served and quality time is spent over turkey and pumpkin pie. The atmosphere is relaxing, away from work and other responsibilities. Except these days, Black Friday actually starts on Thanksgiving Day in many cities.

Public Works projects often run into budget problems. The Big Dig in Boston might be the most notorious example, as the initial estimate of cost and completion date was off by hundreds of millions of dollars and years and years of time. There are many reasons why these projects consistently overrun initial budgets, from underestimating the difficulty of the terrain to political considerations.

November was Diabetes Awareness Month, an opportunity for Americans to share their stories of coping with their illness. Most households in the country are affected in some way by this disease, as diabetes has become more and more prevalent in the last twenty years. Over 30 million Americans have been diagnosed, and millions more have been identified as suffering from pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

Whenever an accident occurs, the normal reaction is to want to know just went wrong. Determining who was at fault and how the accident could have been prevented fulfills our basic human desire to make things safer. University researchers have been working for decades on taking all the information learned from various crashes and figuring out models to improve highway safety.

Multiple outlets are reporting that the Environmental Protection Agency withheld pertinent information regarding the health risks posed by fracking. Fracking (or hydraulic fracturing) uses high pressure fluids to break the earth open and provide access to oil or other precious materials. The technique has been controversial for years, both for its negative impact on the environment and for potential safety concerns regarding the chemicals utilized.

An incident in Alabama is drawing attention to the question of who is liable for an injury to a subcontractor. A work release inmate was killed at the Kochs poultry plant in Ashland, Alabama on October 29th, 2017. The full circumstances of the worker’s death are under investigation.

Medical Malpractice settlement in Pennsylvania for a young child who suffered from a severe injury to the intestinal tract due to a delay by the hospital and doctor in diagnosis and treating Necrotising Enterocolitis.Read More

Our client, a 52-year-old executive secretary had an extensive stay in a local Nassau County hospital. She was discharged and thereafter had persistent nausea and vomiting for a two-week period.Read More

Settlement with the State of New York in the Court of Claims for a victim who sustained brain damage while descending a recreational tube slide on a slope negligently designed by New York State.Read More

Verdict against Phillip Brothers Chemical Company, Inc. who failed to adequately warn a worker in an electroplating plant how to properly add zinc cyanide to a brass plating mixture resulting in an explosion causing burns and loss of vision in one eye.Read More

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The Finz & Finz, P.C. firm represents clients from New York and surrounding areas, including New York City (NYC), Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, Nassau County, Suffolk County, throughout New York state and nationwide.